Finding Collins & Angel
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day six hundred and twenty-one: They've only got two more main characters to find, and yet Rachel's mind is in a whole other place.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 29th cycle. Now cycle 30!_

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><p><strong>Hear that little bird twitter!<strong> _Been thinking about doing this for a couple days, then this morning decided to just go for it. If you go there, find 'gleekathon' and there I'll be. There's also a video explaining everything... Yep... ;) Check it out!_

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><p><strong>"Finding Collins and Angel"<br>Rachel/Puck; Kurt/Blaine  
>Project No Day But Today #4 (following "Finding Joanne &amp; Maureen") <strong>

Later, he'd recall the moment when she had suddenly sat up in Glee Club and realize just what it was that had come to her mind and crammed panic into it. Days after having cast the fifth and sixth roles, she had sent a text that screamed urgency, telling him to come by her house that afternoon.

"The tango!" were the words she greeted him with when he arrived. He stood there, unsure what she meant for a moment, but then he understood… Mark's tango, currently resting on the shoulders of wheelchair-bound Artie.

"Is that all you're worried about? We're double casting, so we can have someone like… Mike, doubling for that role, and he'll do it," Puck resolved.

"Right…" she breathed momentarily. "But won't it be odd to sometimes have him walking and other times… rolling?"

"It's our play, our rules," he told her, and now her breathing calmed… as far as he could tell.

Ever since that moment, a few days before, when he'd gone and made her heart skip a beat, she'd thrown herself head on into plans, Glee, school… She had no idea what it meant, and really she had no time to consider it. Only now, well… it was just them again, and she felt like her brakes had gone out and she no longer controlled where she would be taken with all this. So now that the tango madness had been taken care of, her best solution was to concentrate on casting of their last two Glee Club-played roles, Collins and Angel.

"I kind of have an idea," Rachel confided.

"Okay?" he sat on the couch, waiting for her to explain. She reached to the pictures and pulled Kurt's out.

"I thought you said he didn't want to do that one role when you did Rocky Horror, because he didn't want…"

"I know, and I've considered that. But I've also considered that… this is Rent, and it's a whole other story. If we play it right, he'll be with us. Which takes us to my idea for Collins…"

"Full of ideas today," he had that smirk of his that got her that brakeless car feeling again.

"I'll give Kurt a call, try to set a meet this afternoon, and if not then it'll be tomorrow," she told him, leaving the couch to get the phone. Once she hung up, the meeting was set… immediately. "We can see them today, but we need to go…"

"To Dalton?" he asked, and she nodded. "I don't have my mom's car…"

"We can take my dads' car."

"Okay, but I'm driving." She looked at him, and he bowed his head. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you're kind of an awkward driver… Well, bad, actually… terrible…" he came right out with it. She gasped for a beat, but she slowly overlooked it enough to admit to herself maybe he was better off driving. She got the keys and gave them to him, after one warning.

"Don't drive it into anything?"

The ride was spent with Rachel keeping her nose in her notebook, unsure what she might end up saying if she let conversation start. As open and forward as she could be with things – and people – she wanted, she had this feeling like this one had to be guarded, like if she didn't dig her heels deep in the earth, her brakeless car would hit a wall. Still, as much as being invested in what she was working on would have seemed like business as usual, she could tell he knew something was off with her. It both made her thrilled and nervous, which probably screwed up her facial expression even more than it already was.

But finally they made it to Dalton, and they were a bit stunned at the magnitude of it. She must have been looking at him with eyes that said 'you're going to stick out big time,' because he started checking after his clothes. As they went in, lost in a sea of boys in blazers, they were directed to the Warblers' room, and there they found who they were looking for, sitting with coffee.

"Kurt!" Rachel called, not too loud. He looked up, mid-sip, almost choking in surprise.

"Wow, you weren't kidding," he got up, moving to hug her, still happy to see her. He looked to Puck, unsure what gesture to go for and finally settling on a handshake.

"Well, we had something to talk to you about," Rachel went on.

"Okay, sure, but I'm kind of…" he tilted his head back, indicating Blaine, back at the table.

"No, that's good. Actually, we came to talk to both of you." His attention – and curiosity – grasped, Kurt directed them to the table and offered them seats.

"Blaine, you remember Rachel, and Puck?"

"Hey," Blaine greeted them. "What's going on?" Rachel looked to Puck, who bowed his head to let her speak on.

"So I had this idea, and Puck's been helping me, we… we're putting together a production of Rent." Kurt had a burst of chuckles before he knew it, and he withdrew it, back to the point.

"Sorry, I just… Seriously?" he turned this question to Puck.

"What?" he frowned. Kurt turned back to Rachel.

"And you got this by Schuester? And Figgins? Coach Sylvester?" She didn't answer, and he got up. "Excuse us?" he told Blaine and Puck, directing for Rachel to follow him. She got up, turning back to silently coax Puck into using this time to make the pitch to Blaine. Puck looked back, working it out.

Rachel followed Kurt, coming to stand by the door, in the hall. "So they don't know?"

"No, that was kind of the idea. If we just ask for it, they won't see the big picture, they'll say no, and it'll just end up like Rocky Horror."

"How is this going to be any different?" he shook his head.

"If we work this out, on our own, we can get it ready, to something they won't be able to say no to."

"So, edits?"

"Not… not necessarily. Besides, why mess with something this great?" she smiled. She very nearly had him.

"What about the club? I know I should be looking forward to anything that would disqualify you, now that we're opponents," he teased. "But I don't, and all I'm seeing is how this could be exactly the ammo to have them throw away the key on us… I mean, on you." He did have a point, but so did she.

"And maybe they won't. This is not even close to Rocky Horror. And I think it's worth the possibility of introducing it to new audiences. I mean, I made Noah Puckerman into a fan!" she tried to keep her voice down but pride wouldn't step aside. Kurt was stunned, left to contemplate. She could see the lover in him digging out from under the doubt.

"Who do you have so far?"

"Artie as Mark…"

"But the tango…" he cut in.

"I know, I know, we're working on that. Finn as Benny, Brittany as Maureen, Santana as Joanne, Puck as Roger, and myself as Mimi," she finished, smiling.

"You want me to play Angel, don't you?" he guessed.

"No one else will do the role justice like you can," she said the only words she needed to say. He considered in silence, just a little more. But she could see his head start to nod already. "Please, Kurt?"

"Alright," he finally breathed out, teasing out a smile. She clapped her hands together, thrilled, just as he remembered what she'd said, about having to talk to both him and Blaine. "Oh, I don't know whether to hug you or smack you right now…" She held out her arms tentatively, rooting for the hug. "Let's just wait to see what he says."

Puck struggled to kick off his own pitch, having to give it to someone he didn't actually know too well. But then Blaine kicked it off. "I wouldn't have pegged you for a Renthead."

"I didn't really know about it a few weeks ago," Puck admitted. "Rachel kind of cornered me with it…"

"Don't peg you as a cornered guy, either," Blaine carried on. Puck looked to him. "I just mean maybe you've got this wrong in your head right now." Puck didn't know how to respond to that either. "So what did you guys want to talk about?"

"We're trying to cast the main roles right now. Rachel thought about Kurt for Angel, and then she had this idea. Can you be our Collins? If you want…" Blaine considered this, and Puck saw his eyes flick sideways, maybe wondering whether Kurt would be saying yes to his part. Then the decision was made.

"Alright, I'm in," he nodded. "If he's in," he gestured to the hall, where Kurt and Rachel went.

"I am." Blaine and Puck looked up to see Kurt and Rachel had returned. Rachel looked just thrilled, realizing they'd gotten their two players, while Kurt was thinking of all this would mean for him and Blaine.

"Okay, well, we'll get out of your way, just remember, not a word to anyone," Rachel told the Dalton boys.

"I don't think you have to worry about us, all the way over here," Kurt pointed out, and Rachel bowed her head.

Soon, they were back on the road, heading home. Rachel had expected to have to think of a way to cover up her confusion again, like she had before. But Puck spent the ride continually turning what Blaine had told him over in his mind, like trying to fit an odd shape into the slot it belonged to. He wasn't sure, but maybe it was that he'd underestimated his motivation in the project, and just what – or who – was making him want to see this succeed. Then he thought of it, this project, and then of her, their fearless director at his side… Something about it reminded him of her…

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>******always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******


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